EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR.

Every single year, it is the same conversation, usually with the same people.

“Do you know that Wednesday it is the shortest day of the year?”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, the shortest day of the year.”

This is where you grab their shoulders and say, with a perplexed look, “The shortest day? Like only 18 hours?”

“Umm, no, the shortest day.” Then they pause and speak with a loud voice as if you don’t understand English.

“IT IS THE SHORTEST DAY OF THE YEAR.”

And then, comes the part where you explain to them that all days are the same, 24 hours and their response is to blame it on someone else.

“Well the weatherman on TV said it was the shortest day of the year. I don’t know but that is what they said.”

So here is what they are really trying to say is that the Winter Solstice is the day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere where there is the least amount of daylight. And that means, the Summer Solstice brings us the, all together now, the longest amount of daylight.

OK, I feel better now. Until, summer when the same people tell me that the first day of summer, is the longest day of the year.